Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia - Background

Background

See also: Legal system of Saudi Arabia and Human rights in Saudi Arabia

Gender roles in Saudi society come from Sharia (Islamic law) and tribal culture. Islamic law (sharia) is based on the Qur'an and hadith (teachings of Prophet Muhammad). In Saudi culture, the Sharia is interpreted according to a strict Sunni form known as the way of the Salaf (righteous predecessors). The law is mostly unwritten, leaving judges with significant discretionary power which they usually exercise in favor of tribal customs. The variation of interpretation often leads to controversy. For example, Sheikh Ahmad Qassim Al-Ghamdi, chief of the Mecca region’s mutaween (religious police), has said prohibiting ikhtilat (gender mixing) has no basis in Sharia. Meanwhile, Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Barrak, another prominent cleric, issued a fatwa (religious opinion) that proponents of ikhtilat should be killed.

“It’s the culture, not the religion,” is a Saudi saying. Many Saudis do not see Islam as the main impediment to women’s rights. Said one female journalist, “If the Qur’an does not address the subject, then the clerics will err on the side of caution and make it haram (forbidden). The driving ban for women is the best example.” Journalist Sabria Jawhar dismisses perceptions of Islam as patriarchal as a Western stereotype. “If all women were given the rights the Qur’an guarantees us, and not be supplanted by tribal customs, then the issue of whether Saudi women have equal rights would be reduced.” Asmaa Al-Muhhamad, editor for Al Arabiya, points out that women in many other Islamic nations, including those in the Gulf area, have more political power than Saudi women. The 2009 Global Gender Gap Report ranked several Muslim nations, such as Kyrgyzstan, Gambia, and Indonesia significantly higher than Saudi Arabia for women's equality.

Saudis often invoke the life of Prophet Muhammad, to prove that Islam allows strong women. His first wife, Khadijah, was a powerful businesswoman who employed him and then initiated the marriage proposal on her own. Another wife, Aisha commanded an army at the Battle of Bassorah and is the source of many hadiths. Muhammad ended female infanticide and established the first rights for women in Arab culture. He reportedly told Muslim men, "You have rights over your women, and your women have rights over you."

Enforcement and custom vary by region. Jeddah is relatively permissive. Riyadh and the surrounding Najd region, origin of the House of Saud, have stricter traditions. Prohibitions against women driving are typically unenforced in rural areas.

The 1979 Iranian Revolution and subsequent Grand Mosque Seizure in Saudi Arabia caused the government to implement stricter enforcement of sharia. Saudi women who were adults before 1979 recall driving, inviting non-mahram (unrelated) men into their homes (with the door open), and being in public without an abaya (full-body covering) or niqab (veil). The subsequent September 11 attacks against the World Trade Center in 2001, on the other hand, are often viewed as precipitating cultural change away from strict fundamentalism.

The government under King Abdullah is considered reformist. It has opened the country's first co-educational university, appointed the first female cabinet member, and passed laws against domestic violence. Women did not gain the right to vote in 2005, but the king supports a woman's right to drive and vote. Critics say the reform is far too slow, and often more symbolic than substantive.

Conservatives seek to preserve the culture's traditional gender roles. They see Saudi Arabia as uniquely in need of conservative values because it is the center of Islam. Activists, such as Wajeha Al-Huwaider, compare the condition of Saudi women to slavery.

In 2006, a government poll found that over 80 percent of Saudi women do not think women should drive or should work with men. A Gallup poll found that most Saudi women do not think women should be allowed to hold political office; no other Muslim country in the poll had a similar response. Saudi women supportive of traditional gender roles argue that these changes would be opposed to Muslim values and an unwanted Western cultural influence, and that they already have a high degree of independence.